#givejoy

What is the #givejoy challenge?

I have always loved Christmas -it really is the most wonderful time of the year! Everything about it makes me giddy - the music, the cheer, the present giving, the time spent together, the baking, the scents, and the giving.

My kids love Christmas too. We take them to a Christmas themed theme park almost every summer, and they love seeing Santa and the reindeer and they love the presents, and they love going to their nana and papa's house - it's so exciting for them. No matter what book I read my children, they're always saying "I want this for Christmas", or as my youngest would say: "Mommy, mommy, mommy,I want to buy dat for Cwistmas"

I needed to find a way to teach my children about the other side of the coin - I wanted a way to help my heart focus on the giving and not get so caught up in the receiving that I forget what this season is about. So, I created the challenge in 2016 to be a daily challenge (running from Dec. 1-24) with a random act of kindness challenge every day. There were parts of that challenge I loved, and there were parts that I found exhausting. I didn't need one more thing to have to do before Christmas, but I did want to find a way to naturally work this giving into our Christmas traditions.

So the #givejoy2017 challenge is a bit different and I can't wait for it to start! If you think you and your family might be interested in joining us for the challenge, all the necessary information is below (including a link to the printable challenges) and an information sheet where a lot of your questions will be answered.

28 Challenges

I'm providing you with 28 challenges - 1 a day for 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. You can look at the challenges and decide how many your family wants to do a week, and then which ones you will choose each week, and which days you will do each one!

Themed Weeks

One of my favourite things about the 2016 challenge was the fact we were all doing the same challenge on the same day. Although that might not be the case this year, we will be spreading joy to the same groups of people each week!

Share

This is certainly not a requirement of the challenge, but if you feel comfortable with it, I'd love you to share stories and pictures of your family completing #givejoy challenges on social media. If you do, don't forget to use the hashtag #givejoy2017 so we can easily find your posts!